Protect Your Lipos

It passes the voltage on from the battery to the load (motor controller, ESC, servo controller, light, etc.) until the battery meets the cutoff voltage.

Whether you are powering a microcomputer like a Raspberry Pi, a microcontroller like an Arduino or an RC vehicle, our Low Voltage Cutoff Switch takes away one of the main challenges of working with LiPo batteries.

I just attach a battery monitor to my battery and carefully observe the voltage. Such a device is actually quite dangerous: if you lose motor power, you might stall your aircraft and crash. Sure, you will have protected the Lipo by not going below 3v per cell, but your aircraft (which likely costs more than the battery) is gone. Worse still, this particular one seems to remove power even from the servos, which is just plain unsafe. If you're flying and you lose complete control, who knows where the aircraft could end up? And what if it goes through a car window or hits someone? Yeah, this sounds overly sketchy just to protect a battery.

I just attach a battery monitor to my battery and carefully observe the voltage. Such a device is actually quite dangerous: if you lose motor power, you might stall your aircraft and crash. Sure, you will have protected the Lipo by not going below 3v per cell, but your aircraft (which likely costs more than the battery) is gone. Worse still, this particular one seems to remove power even from the servos, which is just plain unsafe. If you're flying and you lose complete control, who knows where the aircraft could end up? And what if it goes through a car window or hits someone? Yeah, this sounds overly sketchy just to protect a battery.

Yea after reading the description, I came away with a similar conclusion. I might be missing something, but how is this really useful for RC hobbyists (on models)? Complete loss of power when it hits low voltage seems like a bad idea. I'd rather destroy a lipo any day...again I'd like to know if I'm missing something...

From the description it makes no sense at all to use one of these, as was posted above I'd much rather lose a lipo than the plane. If it does in fact cut all battery power, who thought this was a good idea?

No. Kid is 4 or 5 years old. My guess is that is too much hassle and too much for him to understand.
Be the time pops got home on Tuesday the kid had 2 packs reading under 3 volts. Also, that cell checker will not read cell V if much under 3.0 volts.

Also, don't most ESC:s have a low voltage cutoff feature? Some can even be programmed to reduce power to give a warning before shutdown. And servos will still be operational so it' s at least possible to glide down in case of a plane.

On helis and multis a battery monitor of some kind or telemetry is of course the only sensible option. Even a timer will do but no "hard" cutoff as losing power mid-flight will almost certainly cause a crash.

But for ground wehicles and non-RC applications sure. This would be just the ticket for the kid's truck if the ESC does not have a cutoff feature. I personally would not allow a child under 10 years to handle LiPos unattended though.

Well it depends on what you are using it for, say you are using a Lipo to charge other batteries, great little device to prevent you killing the main lipo, would be better though if you had direct control over the exact cut out voltage and the time it needs to exceed that voltage before cut off.

Batteries

Quote:

Originally Posted by Redemptioner

Well it depends on what you are using it for, say you are using a Lipo to charge other batteries, great little device to prevent you killing the main lipo, would be better though if you had direct control over the exact cut out voltage and the time it needs to exceed that voltage before cut off.

I have not seen any in a long time, but there was a unit out years ago that hooked to the balance tap & esc . It had a adjustment on for low voltage on cells. Would cut esc out on motor only. I believe it was called a CELL PRO or cell ck. .

Hm.... that should be extremely simple for the DIY crowd to adapt from one of the LiPo cell checkers that have adjustable voltage. Use the buzzer output to drive a transistor across the ESC signal lead to ground.

Connecting the signal to ground stops the control pulse and stops the motor.